Paper Mario RPG is the second installment of the popular Mario RPG series Paper Mario. Released as Paper Mario RPG (or simply as Paper Mario 2) in Japan, there are differences in the Internal Versions. These differences are the common Nintendo alterations known from numerous other games and depending on the country/language settings, the alterations differ. For instance, some of the characters or places have different names, depending on the language settings. In addition to that, Japanese characters on objects have either been removed or translated into the actual language. There are further, yet rather minor alterations as well, such as a different color of certain objects. These kind of alterations are business as usual for Nintendo releases on the international markets. As for Paper Mario RPG, not only have all those tiny, partially completely supperfluous alterations been made but there are a few alterations in particular that have censorship written all over it: Especially the Paper Mario contains certain issues that rather address adults than kids - like death, revenge, hatred and every now and then, there is even a sexual reference. All in all, these issues are well hidden so that younger player will probably not even notice but it appears as if one went too far in Paper Mario RPG. Too controversal was peobably the rather obvious insinuation that a Toad character was murdered which was even illustrated with a huge pool of blood. Alcohol is another issue previous installments of the franchise have already kept their distance from - on the international market that is. Also being swept under the rug is the fact that there is a transexual character in the game who becomes an important acolyte. In both the UK and German Version, this character is female instead.
Moreover, the International Versions lack an animation that shows Mario raising his hand. This animation was possibly too similar to the Hitler salute.
One last alteration would be the lack of Playboy bunny ears in the International Version. Whether or not those have been censored remains unknown. There are speculations in the Paper Mario community that copyright issues is one of the reasons.

A Murdered Toad

In the International Versions, the house behind Poodley's bar is just an empty, crappy room. In the Japanese Version on the other hand, there is a huge pool of blood on the ground and there is the usual chalk drawing known from crime scenes. The shape indicates that Toad's dead body was lying there.

Japanese Version

International Versions

Missing Mario Animation (Only in the European Version)

In the Japanese Version, Mario has two different ways to welcome somebody. In the European Version, one of the missing because the animation could be mistaken for a Hitler salute.

No Alcohol

While wine is one of the items in the Japanese Version, it has been altered to lemonade for the International Versions. With every single language setting, the name of the lemonade changes. For instance, it is called Chuckola Cola in English.

Japanese Version

International Versions

Peeka

Female ghost Peeka has Playboy bunny ears in the Japanese Version. In the International Versions, those have been replaced with cat ears. As a consequence, Peeka and her sister Lahla are now both dressed the same.

Japanese Version

International Versions

Vivian the Transsexual (Only in the English and German Versions)

In the English and German Versions, Vivian is female and in dialog, Vivian is being presented as "she". In any other version on the other hand, Vivian is transsexual. It is specifically mentioned that Vivian used to be a male who is now female.